Rockland officials announced that more than 10,000 polio vaccine doses have been administered throughout the county since the summer, but they say the work isn't over yet.
The doses were administered following the detection of the virus in a resident who ended up paralyzed back in July.
"We have a virus that's on our shores. We don't want it to gain a foothold," says Rockland County Executive Ed Day. "I'm not taking a victory lap. I want to kill this disease, here and now. This is a final battle against polio here in Rockland County."
Day says the only cure for polio is the vaccine.
Rockland Health Department Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel-Ruppert says the polio vaccination rates have gone way up in the 10952 and 10977 area codes.
News 12 also learned that more than three-quarters of the 14,000 doses given were for children up to 4 years old.
While there's been significant progress, Schnabel-Ruppert urges people to get the entire vaccine series.
"It's important for everyone to be fully vaccinated against the vaccine preventable disease including polio," she says.
New York state data shows that polio has not been detected in Rockland wastewater samples since October.
County officials say they are also working to make sure mandatory school vaccinations are being followed in both public and private schools.